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Roast Duck

Kyle Williams has been asking me for a duck recipe since at least early 2012 and it’s taken me until now to figure out how to do it. I’m sure I’m not alone in being a little intimidated by duck. Unless you hunt them yourself, or you live in England where the Christmas Duck still has a place outside of movies or a Dickens novel, duck isn’t commonly seen in US home kitchens. In fact, I called three local stores here in Austin before I found one that carried duck. (That was Central Market, in case you were wondering, and Wheatsville Coop usually carries duck but were out the day I needed it.) I don’t remember if Kyle specified what preparation he was looking for, but I figured I’d start with roast duck. While roasting poultry can be a little gruesome at the start, the beauty of a whole roast bird is worth it, I think. And besides, by roasting a whole duck, I get lots of duck fat to render and keep for frying potatoes and eggs and things!

Roast duck makes a nice, juicy change from your standard Thanksgiving turkey, and as mentioned before, roast duck is traditional for Christmas dinner in many places. The thing about duck is that there is a lot of fat under the skin, much more than chicken or turkey. It’s important to score the skin to allow that fat to render out as it cooks, leaving a crisp exterior without pockets of grease. Some will recommend poking it with a fork (though I own nary a fork with sharp enough tines to pierce the skin of a raw bird) or the tip of a knife, but I like to score it in a crosshatch pattern like you would a ham. This makes a very pretty duck and ensures thorough fat-rendering. Make a few extra holes in the the areas where the fat is concentrated: the sides of the breasts, the “armpits” and where the thigh meets the breast.

You can use any rub you like to use on poultry, and even some you like on red meat. Duck is a dark meat that can stand up to the strong seasonings typically used with beef and lamb: rosemary, horseradish, cinnamon, cloves, vinegars, and hot peppers. It’s also often paired with fruits like cherries, blackberries, citrus and cranberries in the form of a glaze or sauce. The rub I’ve used here combines piney Szechuan peppercorns, sweet fennel seed, and citrusy coriander with orange and rosemary. An orange-cranberry sauce would compliment this well, as does the pomegranate glaze I’ve given.

14 Comments

Bobon November 5, 2013 at 12:30 am

How about doing a Asian recipe video using one of your dogs as an ingredient?. Just kidding, don’t do duck because I just wuv my ducks Pato Vato and Ping and don’t want them watching me cook their brethren. They would be lean tho, mallards (flying ducks you shoot) rather than pekins (ground-based meat ducks for the supermarket).

We had ducks when I was a kid and they were so mean to our chickens! They would pick at the poor chicks heads all day long. We finally had to set them free into the lake, where they multiplied and spawned all the ducks in Lake Travis. But I’m glad that you have nice ducks, Bob. 😉

If you are going off on a duck chapter, I have a question. I have (once) been served rare duck breast at a restaurant. At the time I thought it was just a fluke and sent it back to be cooked more. [It was a hotel restaurant and I figured low-end chef..] But then just recently I saw a cooking show on Create that did the same thing! It was pan seared and he like, barely cooked it! Gross!! Is this really a thing? Really? Is there something -wrong- with wanting your duck t be cooked all the way through?

It IS a thing and I don’t like it any more than you do, Rachael. The first time I had duck breast was a restaurant in New Orleans and it was rare and it wasn’t so much the texture that put me off as it was the flavor. A rare duck breast is more “ducky” tasting than a medium or medium-well.

I’m pretty sure it’s just fine to want your duck more cooked. Just like with a steak, everyone has a preference but a chef’s preference is always going to be rare cause, you know, they’re chefs.

This duck, roasted this way, the breast meat is just a little pinkish throughout, but def not rare, more like medium-well. I hope you like it!

Hi Hilah,
I’m hosting Christmas dinner in two days and I want to try this recipe…however I have a question. I’m cooking 2 seven pound ducks… Does the cooking time differ, if so by how much? I am seeing conflicting web info that says it’s the same time as one duck you simply add 15 minutes??? What are your thoughts?